Rumor: 'Avowed' Art Director Has Support Within Xbox And Won't Be Fired Despite Advocating For Illegal Race-Based Discrimination
A rumor claims that Matt Hansen, the Art Director for Avowed at Obsidian Entertainment has support within parent company Xbox and Microsoft and won’t be fired after his reprehensible and hateful comments.
YouTuber Smash JT shared that an industry insider informed him that Hansen will not be fired.
The insider informed Smash JT, “No, he won't. He has support from above.”
Smash JT commented, “While this is always subject to change, it's the current sentiment at Obsidian.”
Hansen infamously declared that he specifically made Avowed in order to make Elon Musk mad and threatened that the game was hiding even more wokeness than its promotion of gender ideology via pronouns.
It was originally discovered that the game featured pronouns after YouTuber Force Gaming shared a menu from the game.
From there, former World of Warcraft Team Lead Mark Kern aka Grummz declared, “I’m drawing a line. I’m rejecting any game that has pronouns in it (and you grammar nazis know what I mean, stop being stupid).”
He added, “I don't care if the game is good. A message must be sent. Pronouns promote the woke mind virus and gamers must send a clear message.”
Elon Musk reacted to this post writing, “Having pronouns in a fantasy video game is utterly unacceptable.”
Hansen reacted to this and admitted he specifically made the game to piss off Musk. He wrote, “Sickos.jpg. I wanted to badly to make him mad with my game, and I cannot believe it actually happened.”
He then threatened, “just wait until you see the default, you said little s**t.”
He then made it clear he wants to push this ideology into every single video game ever made.
It was also uncovered that he advocated for discrimination against white people in at least a couple of posts over the last half decade.
Back in 2020, he wrote, “Reminder to Black artists out there who are looking for portfolio reviews or job advice: my DMs are open, and you will always have my priority. We got too many crusty white dudes in this field, please let me help you replace me one day - I want to go back to living in the woods.”
More recently in March 2024, he responded to Elon Musk who said, “It should not be acceptable for any company in the gaming industry to be racist & sexist against ‘white guys.’”
Hansen retorted, “Oh, Elon, you sweet summer child, this will only embolden me, you sad sack of s**t.”
READ: YouTuber Warns That Gamers Should Not "Plunge Gaming Into An Era Of Debauchery And Degeneracy"
Former Obsidian Entertainment co-owner Chris Avellone reacted to these comments and advised anyone who was refused an art position at Obsidian to contact a lawyer and sue the company.
Avellone posted to X, “Based on recent news, if you were rejected from an art position at Obsidian in the past few years, call a lawyer – discrimination in hiring, esp for a Microsoft studio, can ensure you don’t need to apply for a job ever again.”
“And it shouldn’t cost you a cent to initiate legal action – the lawyers will know what the case is worth, and they'll do the heavy lifting,” he continued.
He added, “This has nothing to do with my personal politics, but I believe strongly that hiring discrimination for any reason isn't something the industry should tolerate. I hope you agree.”
Hansen also said the over 77 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump have “putrid lives.”
He wrote, “They need to feel the sting of shame for the rest of their putrid lives, tbh. And that *is* me being nice.”
Hansen has not posted to BlueSky in over a week. His last comment was on November 26th where he responded to an individual who said Avowed “looks awesome!”
Hansen wrote, “Thanks! The team has poured a ton of love into it.”
Similarly, his last public post was also on November 26th. He encouraged his followers to support Aftermath, a website started by former Kotaku writers.
He wrote, “Support independent journalism! Support games journalism!”
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